By Tom Inglesby

While October breezes brought chills to the North, thousands of APICS members (and, one suspects, more than a few family members) headed to New Orleans for a few days of rest, relaxation and robust discussions on manufacturing software and related topics. Not to be outdone, hundreds of company representatives were there to lend a bit of excitement.

The future of manufacturing was depicted as the integration of multiple systems. Of course, we've been talking about that for 10 years and more. It's how those systems will be integrated that makes for heated discussion. Some think the single-vendor, all-in-one approach is best; others vow to bring best-of-breed suppliers into the fold with easy connectivity. A few offered both approaches in one-stop shopping. Throughout the show, the smaller niche players courted the larger ERP vendors and were courted in return, often behind closed doors where the discussion focused on partnerships, alliances and integration efforts. The winners will be announced during the coming months as companies choose sides, pick partners and tie knots in the growing network of compatible competitors.

One winner is already known: the user community. Where myriad divergent and important software packages have long been the norm, users' cries for help in integrating them have been answered with promises and little else.


An identity crisis
A somewhat different crowd of manufacturing experts went to Detroit for the Autofact show. Once the premiere event for manufacturing hardware, software and equipment seekers, SME's Autofact has had an identity crisis. What was known as the "AUTOmated FACTory" show in the lexicon of manufacturers, drifted to the engineering end of the hallway. More and more, CAD exhibitors flooded the floor with graphic capabilities that shop floor folks love to look at but don't need at their functional level. One way to attract these doubters was to show how CAD could be used to bring original drawings, on a computer screen, down to the plant floor so machine tool operators could avoid blueprints. But even integrating CAD with shop floor CAM was a stop-gap measure. What it didn't stop was the march of systems software companies away from the show. Today, Autofact is subtitled "The Rapid Design and Manufacturing" show.

Few exhibitors were found offering anything similar to the ERP and MRP/MRP II systems seen a few weeks earlier at APICS. What was found were companies in four distinct areas of manufacturing systems. There were CAD/CADD companies, most with large Las Vegas-type booths filled with screens showing movies, animation and other highly graphic methods of communicating what was once the domain of big sheets of blue and white paper. There were MES (manufacturing execution systems) vendors, crowded off to one side with their software for bringing the plan to the production line to improving integration. There were the rapid prototyping companies, a relatively new cast of characters. Rapid prototyping was unknown 10 years ago, a minor "gimmick" player in manufacturing as recently as five years ago. Today, the technology has become as common as CAD was 10 years ago.


The Internet is everywhere
The fourth "pavilion" was devoted to the hot topic of the age, the Internet. It is this phenomenon that integrates the APICS and Autofact shows. Both waved the flag of Internet connectivity, albeit with different focus. At APICS, some systems software companies were pushing an "I was first" claim to having Internet-enabled systems, even if the capability was limited to an EDI functionality. At Autofact, companies were selling Net access so you could use that Internet-enabled software you saw the month previous. The Internet vendors' booths were populated by folks from all those CAD companies, looking at ways to send drawings to remote sites, do redlining on designs without concern for location, develop worldwide document management capabilities, and to pick up their e-mail -- which is the best, if not only reason, for having Internet capability today.

Tomorrow will likely see application of the Internet and intranet concept for real workflow and productivity improvement. Now, however, the Net is still a place looking for definition in business and a playground for free spirits who see it as the world's largest library, soapbox and game show. When we find as many productivity aids as home shopping networks on the Net, then we'll have ourselves a real worldwide tool.

Seen on the Screen Working late? Forgot the spouse's birthday? Check out the Internet site http://www.virtualflorist.com. You can order an emergency virtual bouquet to be sent to your significant's e-mail address. Or, if you aren't that nice, a virtual fruitcake. Who said the Internet isn't helpful?

Copyright © 2020 by APICS — The Educational Society for Resource Management. All rights reserved.

Web Site © Copyright 2020 by Lionheart Publishing, Inc.
All rights reserved.


Lionheart Publishing, Inc.
2555 Cumberland Parkway, Suite 299, Atlanta, GA 30339 USA
Phone: +44 23 8110 3411 | br> E-mail:
Web: www.lionheartpub.com


Web Design by Premier Web Designs
E-mail: [email protected]